Remove your Home from Google maps

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If it unsettles you to see your home displayed on Google Maps, there’s something you can do about this. Why might this be a concern? Information is “intelligence”. Information to some is power. The logistics of your home may empower certain people, like burglars. Example; if you’re in a residentially cluttered area vs. a remote area with nearby woods, these details can mean something to a would-be intruder.

3BIn additional to aerial shots, did you know that Google Maps also shows street level views? Uh ohhh…Ya. That can include cars parked outside, people, etc.

Visit Google Maps and type in your address. In the lower left of the screen you will see a thumbnail image called “Satellite.” Click to reveal the satellite image of your area, and see if your street is in view. Look for your dwelling.

How do these images get into the Google Maps system in the first place? Someone from Google actually drives around in a funky car with a crazy 360’ camera strapped to it taking photos. The camera doesn’t discriminate if your young daughters just happen to be sunbathing in the yard at that time.

Play around with the site’s interactive features to see just how much about your home a snooping stranger could learn. The Google Maps site allows zoom-ins that can pick up pretty clear views of what’s inside your garage (if it was opened the day the Google driver was taking pictures) or inside your home (yes, the images are that close-up).

Note, however, that the license plates of vehicles are blurred out. Google claims they also blur out people, but this tactic doesn’t always work, as at least one person claims he saw his license plate very clearly.

We can’t delete our address from Google Maps. But we can get this behemoth to blur out your house.

  • Locate your property to street view level.
  • In the bottom right-hand corner, click the icon called “Report a problem.”
  • This will take you to “Report inappropriate street view.”
  • Tweak the page to get your home inside the red box and fill out the form.
  • Type the verification code and submit.
  • Wait a few days then check to see if your home is blurred out.

You can even make requests for specific things to be blurred, like the $3,000 water fountain in your front yard.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

You need a Home Security Safe

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You don’t have to be wealthy or live in a big house to need a home security safe. If you don’t think you need one, ask yourself why. Ask yourself if you don’t have any valuables—not necessarily something that would be valuable to a burglar, but something very dear and special to you, such as a vintage photo of your great-grandfather.

5HA crook will grab a small safe, not knowing that it contains sentimental items to the owner, and hoping it contains jewelry items he could resell.

So the ideal home safe should be large enough to deter a burglar from grabbing. It should also be fireproof: You wouldn’t want your sentimental belongings to go up in smoke, would you? A safe is also a good place for emergency cash.

An article on community.homeclick.com provides information on choosing a home safe, beginning with the three kinds of locking mechanisms: keypad combination, cylinder dial and keyed lock.

Keypad Combination

This type, which uses batteries, provides fast access and can be customized. The downside, other than having to replace the batteries, is that it’s small enough for a burglar to grab. But if you prefer this system, then bolt this little safe to the floor.

Manual Dial

The manufacturer of this type of lock provides a preset combination, but if you have skill with tools, you can change the combination.

Keyed Lock

The downfall is that these can be picked with a paperclip. Thieves know how easy this is, so if this is your preferred lock, then bolt this safe to the floor—but that won’t stop the burglar from picking the lock. However, it’s fireproof and waterproof, so once the thief sees it’s filled with your children’s birthday cards to you of years ago and old photos of your great aunt Mollie, he’ll leave it alone, I’m sure.

The best safe is a big heavy one. A burglar doesn’t want to hassle with the chore of lifting it and carrying it out of the house. At the same time, it should have a locking mechanism that will stump a burglar. A large, heavy safe is ideal even if you have only a small quantity of valuables; you don’t have to fill it up.

The third feature is the ability to withstand heat. Safes are rated, such as being able to tolerate 350 degrees for one hour. This will surely protect photos, keepsakes and the like, but probably not sensitive electronic equipment. The safe should also have a good rating for resistance to water damage.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

What your Locksmith might not tell You

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If your deadbolt has begun to malfunction, and you haven’t been using it because you fear the key will get jammed in it—perhaps it’s time to call a locksmith and have him fix it.

1HWell, not so fast. This is not the way to go if you want to upgrade your door’s security—its ability to withstand forceful kicking by a burglar. Kicking in doors is a common way for intruders to gain entry.

You’ve made the right move by deciding to get a new, stronger deadbolt; any dolt could gain entry via that keyhole in the doorknob. But you still want a good lock in that doorknob nonetheless. Here are more tips:

  • Have your door replaced with a solid wood or metal one if it’s currently hollow wood.
  • Your new door should not have a window (an intruder could break it and dismantle the locks).
  • If your current door is solid wood or metal, and has a big window, then at least have metal bars placed over the window.
  • Hinges should not be visible (and thus prone to removal by someone on the outside) to the burglar.
  • Have a peephole on the door.
  • The door jamb is a crucial part of the door. Low grade ones will give way to a few good kicks. You can strengthen the door jamb with steel plates.
  • Of course, you know to replace any lame deadbolt with a top-notch deadbolt, but it’s even better to have two deadbolts. But the second one should be one-sided, for interior use. Obviously, you can’t do anything with it from the outside (and neither can a burglar), but it will give you that extra security when you’re inside by having it locked.
  • Yet another layer of security is a cross bar. As its name implies, it’s a bar that goes across the door inside. A steel one is best.
  • For portability use a door brace. Stick it under the doorknob, and the other end affixes to the floor, so that the device is angled from floor to doorknob. The biggest problem with this, perhaps, is forgetting to put it in place. Many people have these devices…leaning uselessly against the wall next to the door. It takes only five seconds to set it in place. Whatever you have to increase the kick-in-proofness of your door, you should implement; no excuses.
  • For rockstar door security install door reinforcement. What if your door included one-sixteenth inch of heavy steel? Try kicking through that. And what about a four foot bar that’s installed over the strike plates, screwed right into the door’s frame? Wow, you have one tough-ass security system for your door: Check out the Door Devil Anti Kick Door Jamb Security Kit.

Robert Siciliano is a home and personal security expert to DoorDevil.com discussing Anti-Kick door reinforcement on YouTube. Disclosures.

Preplan for a Safe Vacation

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Traveling is fun, exciting, tiring and depending on your destination, generally safe. But bad things can happen. The best thing you can do before you go, is prepare.

5HSafety Tips

  • Blend in on your vacation. Before you leave for your trip, plan out your arrival. Dress like the locals. Preparing to blend into the ambience before you leave ensures you won’t be accosted the second you get off the plane. Don’t stick out like a sore thumb dressed in Western attire while you roam around a city where most women are wearing robes or the men are wearing turbans. If wearing a kimono means reducing your odds of being mugged (tourists are known for carrying a lot of cash) or abducted, then do just that.
  • Try not to “play it by ear.” Have a plan in action for every day—and develop it either the night before or early in the morning.
  • Plan. figure out where you’re going to have breakfast; figure out how much time you need in the morning to do anything related to the day’s events (e.g., get tickets, arrange transportation, bring enough diapers for the toddler).
  • Have your young kids wear those sneakers that light up with each step; this will help you know where they are.
  • Before you departed for the trip, you created something to put on your children’s person that contains vital information about them, in case they got lost, right? There are numerous GPS devices that can help you locate them is something happens.
  • And your kids already know how to swim, right? An infant can learn to swim.
  • And you’ve already taught your kids about stranger danger, right? Don’t wait till you’re on vacation to do this.
  • And speaking of young kids…forbid them from dashing ahead of you, especially in crowded areas, especially in a foreign land. You just never know what could happen (e.g., someone swiping your child; your child accidentally ramming into someone and getting injured or inadvertently knocking over a frail elder). Really, I’ve seen kids bolting ahead of their parents like a freight train, including when the parents are not paying attention.
  • Every morning, review instructions for emergencies. This includes instructing your kids to yell, “This man’s not my dad!” if they’re being abducted, rather than just wildly screaming.
  • Before you left for the trip, you packed/uploaded/took headshots of every family member, right? In case someone goes missing?
  • Every morning, make sure everyone has a headshot of everyone on their person. This way, if your young child approaches a woman (because they were taught to approach only a woman if lost), they can show that woman a photo of you and say, “I need your help. I can’t find my patrents.”
  • You’re outside, eager to sightsee. But not before you get key landmarks squared away with everyone in your party.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Xfinity Home Security Flawed

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Bad news for users of the Xfinity home security system: It can report locked doors and windows that have been bypassed by an intruder and miss an intruder’s movements, says an article on wired.com.

3HThe intruder circumvents the system by using a radio jammer to block the 2.4 GHz radiofrequency band of the alarm system. The system won’t detect this as an anomaly, “thinking” that the doors and windows are still locked.

It gets worse. Suppose the thief ends the jamming and leaves with his loot. Then a second, unrelated intruder breaks in. He may go undetected and no alarms will go off, no remote alerts to the homeowner, because it may take the system’s sensors up to three hours to return to a functioning mode.

An Xfinity sign that’s on the property is a welcome mat to thieves who know how to circumvent the system. And the homeowner will never know anything happened until they return and see the place was ransacked. A surveillance camera, of course, will show the intrusion—unless the radiofrequency band of the camera was the same as the system and hence also jammed.

Radio jamming equipment can be constructed by anyone with half a brain about electronics.

Why can’t this system detect that anything went awry? And why does it take up to three hours for the sensors to regroup? Sounds like a lot of stuff is wrong with this system.

It’s not truly known if Comcast plans on remedying these flaws. Rapid7 security researchers contacted Comcast but have not received a reply, continues the wired.com article. Comcast has also ignored contact from WIRED and from CERT, a cybersecurity research entity.

Interestingly, once the wired.com article was posted, Comcast spokesperson Charlie Douglas issued a statement inferring that these flaws exist in any home security system. However, it has not been confirmed that these flaws are inherent in wireless home security systems in general.

So will Comcast patch up the flaw? Douglas’s response to WIRED was rather evasive, again stating that it was an “industry issue,” and that he’s not even sure that a “simple patch” is even the solution.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Set up Family’s Controls on Home Computers

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The computers in your household should have controls on them for security—even if you don’t have children living with you.

3HChrome OS

  • On the Chrome browser in the upper right are three horizontal lines; click this symbol.
  • Click “Add supervised user.”
  • Enter the name and password for the new account.
  • This allows the other family member to access their account using the Chrome OS. Just set the controls for that person via the www.google.com/settings/chrome/manage.
  • You will be able to see the sites that the family member visits, and needless to say, you can block the ones you don’t want that individual accessing. The caveat is that it does not permit bulk blocking; so if you want to block five sites, you must set the block up one at a time for each site.
  • The plus side is that this system allows a user access to your Chromebook.

Windows 10

  • Go to account.microsoft.com/family and sign in.
  • Enter the e-mail address of other family members.
  • Or, set up a new one for them.
  • Click the “invite” link.
  • The family member(s) will appear on the family list. You now can set controls.
  • Controls can apply to apps, games, visiting particular websites and even the time of computer use.
  • This feature includes additional controls like seeing the online activity of the other family member(s).

OS X

  • Click Users & Groups in System Preferences.
  • See the lock icon? With your password, unlock it.
  • Click the “plus” symbol located under the user list.
  • You’ll see Managed with Parental Controls. Take it from there to have the new account added to the Mac’s master list.

There are lots of options for customizing the kind of control you want. Take your time reviewing all of the things you can set controls on.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Most Locks are stupid easy to pick

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I hate to say this, but…any dummy can learn to pick a lock. This means that the locks on your house’s doors are probably very “pickable” unless you have a top-flight lock system—which few homes actually have.

1BAn article on lifehacker.com describes how easy it was for the writer to pick a lock from a lockpick set. He discovered that this type of lock isn’t much different than door locks. He also makes a point about the term “pick resistant.” This doesn’t mean “pick preventable.”

Don’t count on your average door locks to be pick resistant. They are pick easy. Grade 1 locks are the most pick resistant, while Grade 3 are easy.

The article also notes that a fancy looking lock might entice a thief to try to pick it, as he’ll assume a fancy lock means lots of valuables inside. A Grade 1 deadbolt doesn’t have to look snazzy, though.

The author also writes that there are other ways than picking to get past a lock.

  • Bump keys. You can get these at a hardware store or online. Their ridges can line up with a lock’s pins and open it. These are truly master keys to most house doors.
  • Lock snapping. Apply pressure to the lock and snap it in half. However, few locks these days are made this weak.
  • Credit cards. Sticking a credit card in between the door and frame really does work—but not for deadbolts.

Many burglars use non-picking methods. The bottom line is that average locks are just plain weak. But not all intruders care to buff up their lock picking skills. Impulsive intruders, such as teen boys, just want to get in without being savvy about it, so they’ll often kick open a door, smash through a window or ring the doorbell till someone answers and force their way in. Heck, they may even do what so often they do: waltz through an unlocked door.

The FBI says that most burglars get in via forced entry. But it greatly helps to have great door locks. Intruders don’t want to get noticed. They don’t want to set off every dog within a hundred yards barking. They usually really care about being as sneaky as possible. But if they lack lock picking skills, they’ll likely give up on a well-protected house.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Location Apps make it easy for Thieves

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If you’re using the app Strava for example, your bike could get stolen, says a report on the manchestereveningnews site. Strava, like many other location apps, isn’t the badguy here.

Bicyclists in Greater Manchester are being warned that Strava’s tracking could lead thieves to their bikes and even homes. That’s because it’s already happened. One man had two bikes stolen after Strava tracked his ride and led the crooks to his garage.

It’s easy to see how this happens. The users simply post their location activities, often to and from their homes and they broadcast this data via the apps and social sites.

Why do people have this app in the first place? Cyclists and runners want to share route information and compare times, says the article. The application is a social media venue for cyclists and runners.

The aforementioned man had made his bike model and home address public on his smartphone without using privacy settings. The brazen thieves broke into his garage, perhaps overnight, and took only the bikes even though there was other loot present such as valuable tools. Hmmm, it can’t be coincidence. Bikes can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Strava has security settings to set privacy zones. USE THEM. The victim recommends starting your tracked route a few hundred yards from your home to throw off any potential thieves. And end the tracking a few hundred (or even more) yards from your house as well.

A spokesperson from Strava explains that the privacy settings are easy to use. How much of the user’s information gets out there can be constrained. Many people don’t bother with the security settings of applications and just dive into these tools without a second thought.

But assume that there’s always someone else spying on the personal information that’s being made public by a naïve user.

A privacy zone means that you can set up cyber barriers around your house so that thieves will not be able to see where your start and finish locations are.

As for the man whose two bicycles were stolen out of his garage, he has since purchased a new bicycle (and the stolen ones were very pricey, by the way—something that the thieves certainly knew once they saw the publically-shared model number). But don’t wait for your property to get stolen before you realize the importance of any app’s security settings.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

How to secure your Apartment

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I love that show, “Forensic Files.” Every so often there’s the case of a person who was found murdered in their apartment due to some forced entry. Which brings me to the topic of apartment security.

1HNew Apartment

  • Don’t delay in doing a walk-through of the entire premises, including the laundry room (where a crime can occur after a creep spots a vulnerable-looking woman enter the unlocked room).
  • Take note of any portals through which a burglar could make entry. This includes trees and trellises that lead to a window.
  • Take note of where the lit and dark areas are.

Doors and Windows

  • I can’t begin to tell you how many episodes of “Forensic Files” deal with an intruder getting in through an unlocked door or window—and this includes during the day when the victim was home. Keep them locked!
  • However, we all know that intruders will use force to break through a locked door or window (though if you’re home, you’ll have time to call 911 and perhaps make an escape through the back of the apartment—a plan you should already have in place since Day 1. If you’re on the second floor, have a foldable ladder always ready to make your escape.). Sounds crazy, but it’s good for fire escape too.
  • Hopefully your landlord will permit you to replace what’s probably a cheaply built door strike-plate with a strong one with two-inch screws, as this will make it very difficult to kick open. Press your landlord to allow deadbolts on all the doors, even if you must pay for them.
  • Make sure the window locks are very difficult to get past, even if you must pay for revisions. Landlords typically won’t do things like this; if the lock merely “works,” that’s usually good enough for them. This includes sliding glass doors.
  • Put Charley bars or anti-slide devices in the tracks of sliding doors.
  • No matter how mesmerizing the night crickets or ruffling leaves are, you must never go to sleep when the windows are unlocked.

Miscellaneous

  • Make sure no valuables are visible through your windows.
  • A landlord won’t pay for a security system. Hang on every doorknob a sensor (available online and fits in your palm) that, when the door is opened, emits a loud beep.
  • Install your own home security system. They are relatively inexpensive and some can be moved to another apartment.
  • Use timed lighting devices to make it appear you’re home when you’re out.
  • Every time you leave your apartment to get mail, empty rubbish or go to the laundry room, lock your door!

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Protect your Home when Traveling

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When you go traveling, I’m sure you make a point to protect the various things you bring with you—including your laptop, children, even spouse. But what about something you left behind? Your home? Is that being protected too?

1BBefore Leaving

  • Don’t wait till the last minute to arrange kenneling for your pet.
  • Tidy up the exterior of your house including mowing the lawn. Overgrown grass, unmoved rubbish and dormant toys/tools make a house look unoccupied. If you plan on traveling long enough for the grass to get overgrown, arrange with a trusted adult to mow your lawn.
  • Don’t leave your car outside.
  • Put your snail mail and any paper delivery on vacation hold.
  • Give spare keys to a trusted adult. This person should also know the “safe” word for your security system should they be in contact with the monitoring center.
  • Hopefully you have a reliable neighbor who will promptly remove any flyers in your door or on the knob.
  • Here’s something you probably never thought of: A burglar casing your street on trash pickup day may notice the one house whose trash cans aren’t at the curb. Hmmm…maybe those people are away on vacation? So have a neighbor bring your trash cans out on trash day—with trash in them—and then bring them back in.
  • Get rid of food that may spoil while you’re away.
  • Make sure the locks on your windows and doors work.
  • Set up an automatic timed lighting system. Open curtains or shades enough to reveal this to anyone passing by, but not enough for someone to be able to see your valuables through your windows.
  • Put as many valuables as you can in a fireproof, waterproof safe.
  • To prevent water flooding problems, switch off the water to your dishwasher and washing machine.
  • Make sure all appliances and electronic items are unplugged to avoid fires.
  • Lower the thermostat but no less than 60’.
  • Give the garbage disposal one last run, because if there is food waste in there you may come home to a swarm of fruit flies.
  • Make sure your smoke detectors and home security system work.
  • And don’t forget to turn your alarm system on before you embark on your trip.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.